1. Introduction Vikes (Finnish Foundation for Media and Development) has been implementing this project in partnership with Somali National Television (SNTV) and the Federation of Somali Journalists (FESOJ) with financial support from the European Union (EU). The projectʼs overall objective is to improve professionalism of Somali journalists, and the gradual transformation of government media towards public service broadcasting increases citizensʼ access to information and promotes the peaceful and democratic development of Somali society. Since 2014, Vikes has implemented a media support project in Somalia by financial support from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. With support from the EU, Vikes implemented “Better journalism through increased professionalism of Somali media” project from 2018 to 2020 as the lead partner together with the Federation of Somali Journalists and Somali National Television (SNTV).
The project design used a participatory approach in implementing different activities. The project targeted journalists, SNTV, FESOJ members, and journalists from independent media outlets in all five regional states. The focus of the project was training journalists and media workers. All activities implemented by the project were geared towards improving the level of professionalism, better working conditions, and skills through continuous training throughout the project implementation period. The project-specific objectives were: •
Improved production process and technical quality of TV news and talk shows. Increased diversity and improved journalistic quality of TV news and other programmes.
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Improved awareness of labour rights resulting in increased professionalism among journalists in Somalia, including improved professional skills and selfesteem among women journalists.
The project design used a participatory approach in implementing different activities. The support provided to SNTV and other Somali national media focused on technical support, including training, planning, and institution building to improve the production process. This component of the project aims to gradually prepare the state media to transform into a public service media. SNTV training was in-house training and peer learning by professionals from Finland. The trainings at SNTV were conducted by eight Finnish media trainers, two of them with Somali background. Each trainer completed specific training, with some coming back repeatedly. 70 people have taken part in EU project training at SNTV and other Somali national media. Report for Final Project Evaluation. Better Journalism Through Increased Professionalism of Somali Media 11
